Ukraine, CHASIV YAR/KYIV: Local authorities reported on Sunday that a five-story apartment building in Ukraine’s Donetsk region was struck by Russian Uragan rockets, resulting in at least 15 deaths and the fear of another 20 being trapped.
While Moscow claimed its forces attacked Ukrainian army hangars housing US-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery, near Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, Ukraine also reported clashes with Russian forces on fronts in the east and south.
The strike on the apartment building happened on Saturday night in the town of Chasiv Yar, according to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. On Sunday afternoon, the local emergency service reported 15 fatalities, adding that 24 more people might still be trapped beneath the rubble.
A local resident identified as Ludmila said, “We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen,” as rescuers removed a body wrapped in a white sheet and cleared the debris with a crane and their hands.
“We ran toward the second entrance and then directly into the basement the second, I can’t even remember, there was lightning. Up until this morning, we stayed there all night.” Venera, a different survivor, claimed she had wanted to save her two kittens.
She said, sobbing, “I was thrown into the bathroom, it was all chaos, I was in shock, and I was all covered in blood.” “The room was covered in debris when I finally emerged from the restroom; three floors had collapsed. Under the debris, I never discovered the kittens.”
Almost 99 tonnes of debris were removed by rescuers from the site of the collapsed apartment building in Chasiv Yar, according to a Telegram post by Kyrylenko.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, claimed in a Telegram post that the attack was “another terrorist attack” and that as a result, Russia should be labelled as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Russia, which claims to be carrying out a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine, rejects accusations that it intentionally targeted civilians.
The Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has long been Europe’s largest battleground, is made up of the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk. For the benefit of the separatists it backs, Russia wants to seize control of the Donbas.
Moscow’s invasion is referred to as an unprovoked war of aggression by the West and Ukraine.
Russian forces launched a cruise missile attack from their side of the border on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian military reports, but were forced to retreat after attacking Ukrainian positions close to the town of Sloviansk in Donetsk. It provided no information on casualties or damage.
Russian forces were reportedly assembling near the village of Bilohorivka, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Sloviansk, according to Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region.
He wrote on Telegram, “The enemy is shelling the nearby settlements and conducting air strikes, but it is still unable to quickly occupy the entire Luhansk region.”
Last weekend, Russia proclaimed complete control over the province of Luhansk.
The U.S.-made M777 howitzers, which were allegedly used to shell residential areas of Donetsk, were reportedly stored in two hangars close to the Donetsk town of Kostyantynivka, according to the Russian defence ministry.
On Sunday, separatist officials were quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the Ukrainian military had been shelling Donetsk with 155-mm NATO-standard artillery since the morning, injuring two locals.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm any battlefield reports.
Military spokespeople for Ukraine were unavailable for comment right away.
According to Ukraine’s military command, its forces engaged Russian positions in the south with missile and artillery fire, including ammunition storage facilities in the Chornobaivka region.
As Ukraine resists the invasion that started on February 24, it has received assistance from Western military supplies and strict sanctions against Moscow.
